Praxis Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Position in SM Energy Company $SM

Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 8,290 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in SM Energy by 69.5% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,017 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in SM Energy by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 29,209 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $722,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in SM Energy by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 8,688 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 21,258 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $637,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 21.9% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,118 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on SM shares. Raymond James Financial cut shares of SM Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Mizuho set a $38.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.50.

SM Energy Trading Down 2.2%

SM stock opened at $21.30 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.34. SM Energy Company has a fifty-two week low of $19.67 and a fifty-two week high of $46.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 2.30.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.27. SM Energy had a net margin of 25.94% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The firm had revenue of $792.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $792.58 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. SM Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.30%.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids in the state of Texas. It has working interests in oil and gas producing wells in the Midland Basin and South Texas. The company was formerly known as St.